The Decline of Son Preference in South Korea
The Roles of Development and Public Policy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4120887 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Woojin Chung (0000-0003-2090-4851, Yonsei University), M Das Gupta (0000-0002-1740-5384, World Bank Group) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 33 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 757-783 |
| Publication date | 2007-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Population and Development Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0098-7921 • E-ISSN: 1728-4457 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1728-4457.2007.00196.x |
| OpenAlex | W2078703033 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 139 |
| References cited | 39 |
For years, sex ratios at birth kept rising in South Korea despite rapid development. We show that this was not an anomaly: underlying son preference fell with development, but the effect of son preference on sex ratios at birth rose until the mid-1990s as a result of improved sex-selection technology. Now South Korea leads Asia with a declining sex ratio at birth. We explore how son preference was affected by development and by public policy. Decomposition analysis indicates that development reduced son preference primarily through triggering normative changes across society-rather than just in individuals whose socioeconomic circumstances had changed. The cultural underpinnings of son preference in preindustrial Korea were unraveled by industrialization and urbanization even as public policies sought to uphold the patriarchal family system. Our results suggest that child sex ratios in China and India may decline before those countries reach South Korean levels of development, since the governments of both countries vigorously promote normative change to reduce son preference
China · Demographic economics · Development economics · East Asia · Economic growth · Economics · Industrialisation · Normative · Political science · Population · Preference · Sex selection · Socioeconomic status · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Urbanization · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research
Changes in Sex Ratio at Birth in China
Missing Girls
Urban change and rural continuity in gender ideologies and practices
Abandoned children in China
Characteristics Associated With Financial or Non-financial Barriers to Healthcare in a Universal Health Insurance System
Recent sex ratio at birth in China
Son preference and the fertility squeeze in India
Son preference and low birth weight for girls
Gender disparities in the prevalence of undernutrition in India
Unconditional cash transfer programs and women’s empowerment
Within-Family Differences in Intergenerational Contact
Privatization and patriarchy
Trends and Determinants of Premarital Conception
Son Preference and Human Capital Investment among China’s Rural-urban Migrant Households
Can Risk Perception Alter Son Preference? Evidence from Gender-Imbalanced Rural China
Son Targeting Fertility Behaviour in Albania
Son Preference in a Welfare State
The Significance of Cross-Border Marriage in a Low Fertility Society
The Estimation of the Number of Aborted Girls in South Korea
Childless and sonless in India
Parental educational investment in China
Gender Saturation in the Southern Caucasus
Unequal Time Transfers
Evidence of Son Preference in the Child Trafficking Market for Illegal Adoption in China
Could changes in reported sex ratios at birth during China's 1958-1961 famine support the adaptive sex ratio adjustment hypothesis
Fertility Decline and Family Change in India
Fertility behaviors in South Korea and their association with ultrasound prenatal sex screening
Which Occupation is Highly Associated with Cognitive Impairment? A Gender-Specific Longitudinal Study of Paid and Unpaid Occupations in South Korea
How Does Economic Inequality Affect Infanticide Rates? An Analysis of 15 Years of Death Records and Representative Economic Data
A Reversal of the Association between Education Level and Obesity Risk during Ageing
Change in China’s SRB
Conflicts and son preference
Do Ambivalent Women Have an Unmet Need for Family Planning? A Longitudinal Study from Bali, Indonesia
Who Meets Their Intentions to Stop Childbearing? Results of a Longitudinal Study in Rural Eastern Bali, Indonesia
Are daughters more preferred by young people in contemporary China? Qualitative evidence from one-child generation cohorts in urban Jiangsu
Une « préférence féodale »
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Having Children in a Time of Lowest-Low Fertility
Fertility differentials between Korean and international marriage couples in South Korea
Missing girls’ in China and India
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Son preference, gender asymmetries and parity progressions
Is banning sex-selection the best approach for reducing prenatal discrimination
Not a bowl of rice, but tender loving care’
Daughter Discrimination and Future Sex Ratio at Birth in India
Family Systems, Political Systems and Asia's ‘Missing Girls’
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An Equal Right to Inherit? Inheritance Rights and Gendered Intergenerational Transfers in South Korea, 1971–2010
Korean Immigrant Mothers’ Praise and Encouragement, Acculturation, and Their Children’s Socioemotional and Behavioral Difficulties
Gender inequality and the sex ratio in three emerging economies
Parental gender preference in the Balkans and Scandinavia
Reproducing hybridity in Korea
The Negative Impact of Adult Children’s Marital Dissolution on Older Parents’ Mental Health in South Korea
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Re-negotiating social reproduction, work and gender roles in occupied Palestine
Missing time with parents
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Does gender matter for the intergenerational transmission of education? Evidence from rural China
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Does women's education improve the sex ratio at birth? Gender, agency and sex-selective abortion in South and East Asia
Does family composition drive future fertility desire and contraceptive use? An evidence based on National Family Health Survey (2015–2016), India
Remembering Sacrifices
An Economic Framework for Persisting Son Preference
Women’s Off-Farm Work Participation and Son Preference in Rural China
Speeding Up for a Son Among Immigrants in Canada
Old Habits Die Hard? Lingering Son Preference in an Era of Normalizing Sex Ratios at Birth in South Korea
Evidence of Decreasing Prenatal Sex-Selection Practice in a Context of Liberal Abortion Rights
Preference for Sons and Daughters in Developing Countries
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Disparities in Gender Preference and Fertility
Son Preference and Children’s Housework
Gender Discrimination and Excess Female Under-5 Mortality in India
Transition of Son Preference
Child Underreporting, Fertility, and Sex Ratio Imbalance in China
Estimating a Dynamic Model of Sex Selection in China
Learning to Value Girls
The Dynamics of Son Preference, Technology Diffusion, and Fertility Decline Underlying Distorted Sex Ratios at Birth
Fertility Decline, Girls’ Well-being, and Gender Gaps in Children’s Well-being in Poor Countries
Son Preference, Fertility Decline, and the Nonmissing Girls of Turkey
Son Preference and Fertility Decisions
The Rise of Sonless Families in Asia and North Africa
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Declining Fertility in Two Koreas
Land Reform and Sex Selection in China
Recalled Parental Gender Preference in Chinese Culture
Age-specific sex ratios
Variations in attitudinal gender preferences for children across 50 less-developed countries
Présentation
Does education level impact parental gender preferences? A comparative perspective on fathers and mothers in China
Sex Ratio at Birth among Chinese Malaysians, 1963 2003
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Is prenatal sex selection associated with lower female child mortality
Son-biased sex ratios in 2010 US Census and 2011-2013 US natality data
The Relation of Son Preference and Religion to Induced Abortion
From Elder to Ancestor
The achieving society.
Decomposing differences in the first moment
Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets
Wage Discrimination
Becoming Modern
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Endangered Daughters
Women and Confucian Cultures in Premodern China, Korea, and Japan
Culture and the State in Late Chosŏn Korea
Why is Son preference so persistent in East and South Asia? a cross-country study of China, India and the Republic of Korea
Ancestor Worship and Korean Society
The Confucian Transformation of Korea
Korean Society
Missing Girls in South Korea
Missing Girls in South Korea
Preference for Sons, Family Size, and Sex Ratio
Sex preferences and fertility in South Korea during the year of the Horse
Do Parents Prefer Sons in North Korea
The Employment of Married Women in the United Kingdom 1970-83
Wives, Lesser Wives, and Ghosts
A Century of Demographic and Cultural Change in Western Europe
Sex differentials in infant and child mortality in Korea
Consequences of Son Preference in a Low-Fertility Society
Gender Bias in China, South Korea and India 1920-1990
Social Interactions and Contemporary Fertility Transitions
Fertility and Son Preference in Korea
Fertility Decline and Increased Manifestation of Sex Bias in India
Selective Discrimination against Female Children in Rural Punjab, India
A Turning Point in Gender Bias in Mortality? An Update on the Number of Missing Women
Carving Out Space
Confucianism and the Korean Family
Culture and Public Action
Threshold Models of Collective Behavior
| Unique citing works | 139 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 7,72 |
| Citation span | 2008 - 2026 (19) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 138 |